Tag: Daniel Jones

Giants’ Daniel Jones aims for training camp return, says neck is 100%

New York Giants QB Daniel Jones is aiming for a training camp return, has had no setbacks in his ACL recovery and says his neck is 100%.

The New York Giants could possibly see some more changes in their quarterback room this year, especially if they bring in another arm in the 2024 NFL draft.

Daniel Jones, the incumbent at the position, is rehabbing from a season-ending ACL tear and plans to be ready for training camp.

“The plan is to be ready to go by training camp,” Jones told reporters on Monday at the opening session of the Giants’ voluntary offseason training program. “That’s when I’m shooting for and feel good about being ready.”

Jones spoke about the progress he’s made during his rehabilitation, stating he hasn’t had any setbacks.

“I’m coming along well,” he said. “I’ve been throwing for quite some time now. Was throwing stationary pretty soon in the rehab process but have progressed and I’m throwing with movement and dropping, and kind of quarterback-specific drills. So that feels good.”

Jones also dismissed any notion that his neck is a problem or an issue that would linger long-term.

“My neck is 100% healthy. That was a stinger-type injury that’s pretty common in football. That’s calmed down and I feel good,” he said.

Jones is not oblivious to where the team is at when it comes to their quarterback situation. The powers that be — co-owner John Mara, general manager Joe Schoen, and head coach Brian Daboll — have all publicly professed their fondness for Jones, but at the same time, did not rule out bringing in a possible replacement.

“I think you can get into trouble when you try to think too much about some of those things and how it all works out,” Jones said. “Yeah, like your antenna for some of those dynamics and relationships. I’m just focused on what I’m doing, and that’s my rehab, getting healthy, spending time with the guys, and making sure we’re getting on the same page, and having the best spring we can. Like I said, be a better question for Joe and Dabs. I’m focused on what I have to do.”

Asked if thought he was the Giants’ best option at quarterback heading into this season, the former 2019 first-round pick didn’t hesitate.

“Yes, I do,” he said.

We’ll find out if he’s right in the next few months.

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Giants’ Joe Schoen on poor offensive line: ‘You can’t run a play’

New York Giants GM Joe Schoen laments the “almost embarrassing” OL play that crippled QB Daniel Jones in 2023: “You can’t run a play.”

The New York Giants surrendered 85 sacks in 2023, the second-worst number in NFL history. Many of those came through the interior, where the guard-center combination allowed more sacks than the entire five-man units of 20 other teams.

All three of the team’s quarterbacks — Daniel Jones, Tyrod Taylor and Tommy DeVito — suffered injuries as a result of the porous offensive line.

It was “almost embarrassing,” general manager Joe Schoen says in retrospect. And it made it nearly impossible to get a feel for what Jones was capable of.

“You’re facing a Micah Parsons; we played San Francisco last year on a short week and you’re facing that D-line. Those are real problems,” Schoen told Albert Breer of Sports Illustrated. “You got to face those guys. The ability to get after the quarterback and protect the quarterback is where it all starts. To get those premium positions, you have to be picking high or pay a premium to go get them as you’re building it.

“It was almost embarrassing the way we played on the offensive line. You can’t run a play. You really can’t get a true feel for Daniel when he’s on his back every play. There’s definitely a concerted effort to upgrade (the trenches).”

Giants fans may not want to hear it, but that’s a reality. And it’s why Schoen spent the early parts of free agency addressing the line, signing the likes of Jermaine Eluemunor, Jon Runyan Jr. and others.

It’s also why Schoen is more open to selecting a non-quarterback in the 2024 NFL draft than many assume. Needs are abundant, and no rookie quarterback is going to fix these problems, assuming he could even survive the beating if the offensive line doesn’t improve drastically.

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2024 NFL draft: Giants’ interest in quarterbacks not a smokescreen

The New York Giants have invested heavily in quarterback scouting ahead of the 2024 NFL draft and it’s most certainly not a smokescreen.

The New York Giants have spent a significant amount of time scouting, working out, and meeting with many of the quarterback prospects ahead of the 2024 NFL draft.

Some argue that it’s a mere smokescreen with general manager Joe Schoen wanting to temp other teams to move up, allowing a top wide receiver to fall into their laps at No. 6 overall.

However, ESPN’s Jordan Raanan says that’s not the case at all.

“They’re traveling around the country, they’re looking at these guys, they’re working them all out,” Raanan said on the Breaking Big Blue podcast. “Pretty much all the top quarterbacks have visited the Giants, worked out for them privately — so they’ve seen them throw — they met them all at the combine.

“And people who think this is a smokescreen, you’re not wasting this much time and this many resources for a smokescreen.”

The Giants have traveled coast to coast to watch the prospects throw and have held numerous meetings with the likes of Jayden Daniels, Drake Maye, J.J. McCarthy, and Michael Penix Jr. — some in person, some virtual.

“Joe Schoen and Brian Daboll are not flying from the owner’s meetings in Orlando to LSU to see Jayden Daniels the next day, to Washington all the way across the country the next day as a smokescreen,” Raanan said. “They’re just not. Sorry.”

Although the Giants remain committed to Daniel Jones as their starter, there are growing concerns over his injury history. He is currently recovering from a torn ACL but it’s his neck that has given the Giants pause.

Even if the Giants draft a quarterback at No. 6 overall, Raanan expects them to sit the rookie behind Jones for a year or until DJ misses some time.

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Former Duke quarterback Daniel Jones attends spring practice on Tuesday

New York Giants quarterback and former first-round pick Daniel Jones returned to Durham to watch the 2024 team get some work in on Tuesday.

Duke football spring practice is underway in Durham, and there was a familiar face along the sidelines on Tuesday.

Daniel Jones, the New York Giants quarterback and sixth-overall pick in the 2019 NFL draft, came back to campus to watch his former team get some work in ahead of the 2024 season.

Jones started for the Blue Devils for three seasons, throwing for 8,201 yards, 52 touchdowns, and 29 interceptions across 36 games. He added 1,323 yards and 17 touchdowns with his legs.

As the Giants quarterback, Jones only played in six games last season as he battled multiple injuries, and his season ended after he tore his ACL in November. He did lead the Giants to the playoffs in 2022, winning a Wild Card Round game over the Vikings for the team’s first playoff win in 11 years.

Former Blue Devils receiver Jake Bobo, now a member of the Seattle Seahawks, joined Jones on the sidelines. Bobo played for the Blue Devils for four seasons before transferring to UCLA for his senior campaign. He caught 19 passes for 196 yards and two touchdowns with Seattle as a rookie.

Jones got a close look at former Texas quarterback Maalik Murphy, who committed to the Blue Devils back in December. A former four-star recruit, Murphy is the highest-rated quarterback prospect to ever suit up for Duke.

Giants are ‘still progressing’ as Joe Schoen enters third season as GM

Entering Year 3 as GM, Joe Schoen says the New York Giants are “still progressing.”

New York Giants general manager Joe Schoen is entering his third season at the helm of one the NFL’s most prestigious franchises and perhaps his most pivotal one.

His tenure began in 2021 with a successful 9-8 season that saw the Giants qualify for the postseason for the first time since 2016. His second season, however, did not go as well.

The Giants suffered several major injuries and the team took a nosedive under a more challenging schedule. They finished 6-11 and Schoen is drafting in the top ten again in this year’s NFL draft.

“I think we’re still progressing,” Schoen told reporters at the NFL owners meeting in Orlando on Monday. “I just looked at this the other day, the 2021 roster when I got here. I went back and looked at that. We’re always evaluating ourselves.”

 “The first offseason, what could you do to really improve the roster? We didn’t have any money (available under the salary cap), so it was (quarterback) Tyrod (Taylor), (center) Jon Feliciano, and (guard Mark) Glowinski. As I started going through the decisions we made and where we are salary cap-wise and trying to make sure we’re in good health from a salary cap standpoint building a young foundation.”

 But the NFL, even though it is designed to help struggling tams get better quickly, is still not an exact science. Schoen is learning that as he continues to tweak his roster.

“It takes time, as much as you want instant gratification, and nobody wants that more than me,” Schoen said. “I think you have to believe in the principles and in terms of how to build the team, and we’re going on our third draft. It takes time.

“When I look back at the 2021 roster and where we are now, I just think we’re heading in the right direction, and we’ll continue to head in the right direction in terms of bringing in our type of players and what we’re looking for schematically, what Dabs (coach Brian Daboll) is looking at for his offense, and we’ll keep making progress.”

The Giants have used free agency to bolster their sagging offensive line and hold the sixth overall selection in the upcoming draft. There is much debate on what, or who, they should use that pick on. Many fans want a new quarterback.

Schoen still has a good chunk of his salary cap space dedicated to the quarterback room. Daniel Jones is only in his second season of a four-year, $150 million deal and Schoen inked Drew Lock to a one-year, $5 million flyer earlier this month.

Jones is still recovering from a torn ACL that ended his season after eight games last year. He is progressing and is expected to be under center when the season begins.

“I got an update on Friday,” Schoen said. “He is running on land now. So, he’s off the Ultra-G (anti-gravity treadmill), and he is throwing. Yeah, knock on wood, no setbacks, but he is in there attacking it every day and doing a good job.”

“Every patient is different, and you can’t really predict if swelling is going to occur or if there’s a setback. He’s on the right track right now. Again, we just have to – it’s day-by-day and week-by-week. You just don’t know how he’s going to react as we ramp it up and he starts to do more. Hopefully, there’s no setbacks.”

If there are, Lock will be there to step in. Or maybe, Schoen will surprise everyone with a newer, younger alternative next month at the draft in Detroit.

Ex-Giant Kyle Rudolph: Giants should stick with Daniel Jones, draft WR

Kyle Rudolph believes the Giants should focus on drafting a WR for Daniel Jones.

While the debate continues on whether the New York Giants should draft a quarterback and move on from Daniel Jones, on Monday, Giants’ owner John Mara said he would support the decision to draft a quarterback.

Ex-Giants tight end Kyle Rudolph was a guest on “Up and Adams” on Monday and just as he has done in the past, Rudolph praised Daniel Jones comparing him to one of the league’s best quarterbacks:

“I love DJ. I think he’s super talented. He has the ability to be a Josh Allen-type quarterback. He has the athletic ability to run the football, he can make every throw. He doesn’t have that quite of a strong arm, but he has an adequately strong arm to make every throw. Can we get the guy a number one wide receiver, please? Like let’s quit messing around.

“I give the Giants credit, they’ve tried to bolster the offensive line; they’ve invested first round picks, they’ve brought free agents in, they’ve tried to address the offensive line. It hasn’t worked as well as they’d hoped but they put the effort there. Can we get the guy a number one wide receiver, please? How can you judge someone who has played in the NFL for now five years, and he’s never had a number one wide receiver. Like, what quarterback goes five years and without being given a number one wide receiver.”

“One hundred percent” Rudolph emphatically responded when asked if he would run it back with Daniel Jones and use the Giants first-round pick on one of the top receivers.

As Rudolph said, the Giants have used resources to address the offensive line. However, it’s not as if the Giants haven’t tried to find Jones a top pass catcher. Between the signing of Kenny Golladay, the draft selection of Kadarius Toney and the acquisition of Darren Waller, none of those pass catchers panned out the way the Giants have hoped.

The Giants have been connected to wide receivers in plenty of mock drafts recently with the draft right around the corner. As it currently stands today, it certainly seems like one of the top wide outs will be available for the Giants at No. 6 overall.

Report: Giants ‘contemplating moving on’ from Daniel Jones

The Giants are reportedly “contemplating moving on” from QB Daniel Jones.

Are the New York Giants contemplating moving on from quarterback Daniel Jones? Anything is possible as the 2024 NFL draft nears.

The Giants hold the sixth overall selection in this year’s draft and could be in prime position to nab one of the top signal-callers if things fall their way.

General manager Joe Schoen has made it clear through his words and actions this offseason that the future of the quarterback position is very much fluid.

The Giants have been pounding the pavement scouting this year’s draft class, as well as exploring signing a veteran option such as Russell Wilson.

Schoen decided to ink Drew Lock to compete with/back up Jones after passing on Wilson and getting priced out on Tyrod Taylor.

The real solution will likely come in the draft, where Schoen and his team are concentrating their efforts.

From ESPN’s Jordan Raanan:

The Giants met with the consensus top six quarterbacks at the NFL scouting combine, according to sources. That includes likely No. 1 overall pick Caleb Williams.

Schoen and director of player personnel Tim McDonnell were even at USC’s Pro Day on Wednesday to watch Williams throw. The Giants also already had UNC’s Drake Maye and Michigan’s J.J. McCarthy in for visits and are expected to have private workouts with most of the top quarterbacks in the coming weeks.

Schoen also admitted he may not take a quarterback with his first-round pick. The Giants have a total of six selections in the draft.

“It’s a good quarterback draft. It’s not just at the top,” Schoen said at the NFL Combine last month in Indianapolis.

The concern is not only with Jones’ inconsistent play on the field, his injury history is also troublesome. And, per Raanan, the latter issue has the Giants thinking about moving on from the Duke product.

Multiple sources have told ESPN that Jones’ injury history is what has the team contemplating moving on. The evaluation of the player hasn’t changed all that much in the four games that Jones played from start to finish since signing that lucrative deal.

Jones is entering his sixth season and has only played 16 or more games in a season once, which came in 2022, the only season he did not suffer an injury and the only winning season the Giants have had since they selected him sixth overall in 2019.

Jones was limited to six games last season after suffering a neck injury and then a torn ACL. The Giants turned to Taylor and Tommy DeVito to handle the quarterbacking duties in the second half of the season.

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QB Daniel Jones will be ‘the guy’ for the Giants when he returns

Not that there has been much doubt, but Brian Daboll told NFL Network that Daniel Jones will be ‘the guy’ at quarterback when he returns.

There really hasn’t been much doubt as to whether Daniel Jones is going to begin the season as the New York Giants starting quarterback. However, if there were any lingering questions, Brian Daboll threw some cold water on them.

In an interview with NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero, Daboll reaffirmed that Jones was “the guy.”

“We’re excited to have Drew (Lock), and he knows what his role is going to be,” Daboll said. “He’s going to get a lot of reps this spring, he needs to learn our system, but again, excited to get Daniel back. When he gets back he’ll be the guy.”

With how the offseason has played out for the Giants, this isn’t exactly news. It’s already been reported that when the team met with Russell Wilson, they made it known that he wasn’t going to be handed the starting job. Lock has also said since joining the team that it’s clearly been conveyed to him that Jones is the starter.

Prior to Jones’ ACL injury last season, he was having a rough go of it, as was the Giants’ offense as a whole. Although Jones was completing 67.5 percent of his throws, he was averaging just 5.7 yards per pass attempt and threw only two touchdowns to six interceptions.

It was just last offseason that the Giants and Jones agreed to a new four-year deal worth $160 million, including $82 million paid out over the first two seasons.

This was on the heels of a 2022 season where Jones completed 67 percent of his passes, throwing for 3,642 yards with 17 touchdowns to six interceptions. He also rushed for 805 yards and seven scores.

With Pelissero, Daboll added that they do not yet know if Jones will be available for Week 1, and because of that, emphasized the importance of Lock picking up the offense quickly.

Although the starting job belongs to Jones once he is healthy, the Giants need him to perform better upon his return than what he did last season.

However, just because he’s beginning the season as the starter doesn’t mean he’s going to finish the year in that capacity – -especially with Daboll in a bit of a prove-it year. He has to win games now.

To a degree, there is some uncertainty around Jones and what to expect when he’s back on the field. It’s for this reason that the Giants very well could be in the quarterback market in the draft. The question is: to what degree?

As I wrote about recently, I don’t expect the Giants to trade up to the No. 4 pick to take one of the top quarterbacks. Of course, if Drake Maye or J.J. McCarthy — both of whom have visited the Giants as part of the pre-draft process — were to fall to No. 6, that’s a completely different story and would take away the certainty of the starting quarterback job belonging to Jones.

With that said, the safe bet is that the top four quarterbacks will be off the board by the time the Giants are on the clock, and New York will be able to address their need at receiver.

Perhaps then they use a Day 2 or early Day 3 pick on the quarterback position, with Tulane’s Michael Pratt and South Carolina’s Spencer Rattler being two developmental options.

While Jones’ new contract didn’t go into force all that long ago, the Giants are able to get out of it after this season. Doing so would require them to take on a dead-cap hit of $22.2 million for the 2025 season, but it would also create $19.3 million in cap space.

This is just another reason why quarterback isn’t out of the question for the Giants in this year’s draft, even with the continued firm commitment to Jones.

Jason McCourty ‘would be shocked’ if Giants draft a QB in Round 1

Jason McCourty “would be shocked” if the New York Giants selected a quarterback at No. 6 overall given their other glaring roster needs.

There have been plenty of rumors connecting the New York Giants to quarterbacks at the top of the 2024 NFL draft.

As that April date inches closer, the Giants-quarterback narrative has gained steam with every report of general manager Joe Schoen attending a Pro Day.

NFL Network’s Good Morning Football analyst and former defensive back, Jason McCourty, sees the Giants’ potential draft plans very differently from his point of view.

“I would be shocked if the Giants go quarterback at (No. 6) because . . . they have holes they need to fill. You talk about the offensive line and having a quarterback there that doesn’t have to run around for his life and feel like he has to make plays,” he said. “So, I look at it for the Giants, go that direction. You’ve committed to Daniel Jones, you’ve brought in Drew Lock, you’ve brought in Russell Wilson to have conversations with him. So we’ve seen them kind of flirt with it, they’ve gone through and evaluated these quarterbacks but you have another season in Daniel Jones.

“You believe in him in that first year under (Brian) Daboll and Joe Schoen and you saw some growth for him so move forward with this. I think build a team in place and a year from now, two years from now, if you’re in a position to go get a quarterback through free agency or the draft, you’ve now built a team around him to take over, similarly to what we’ll probably see from Caleb Williams at that number one pick for the Bears,

“For the New York Giants, continue to build those pieces around whoever the future quarterback’s going to be. . . . You have two guys in that room who can lead the team. So I think, for that reason, you go and you get another position that you think is a surefire to be a part of the franchise.”

The Giants’ roster is largely devoid of talent and they have several pressing personnel needs.

It does seem increasingly likely that the Giants would have to move up to get one of the top four quarterbacks and in terms of competition, they may not have the assets necessary to do that.

The most likely of non-quarterback scenarios does seem to be the Giants taking one of the top wide receivers but it easily could be an offensive lineman at six as well.

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Carl Banks believes Giants QB Daniel Jones may have been ‘shell-shocked’ in 2023

New York Giants legend Carl Banks thinks QB Daniel Jones may have been “shell-shocked” in 2023 due to the team’s porous OL.

New York Giants quarterback Daniel Jones has been the subject of scrutiny since he was drafted in 2019. He’s gone through three coaching changes and an entire front office change in five years, but NFL metrics don’t really care about your circumstances.

Last season was Jones’ worst to date, even before he was injured.

But there may have been a specific reason for Jones’ regression in 2023. Giants legend Carl Banks feels he may have been “shellshocked” as the result of the beating taken behind one of the worst offensive lines in NFL history.

“And the other thing . . . is his mental state, right? He’s been beat up and I don’t have any doubt that he’ll go out and he’ll compete,” Banks said on the Bleav in Giants podcast. “But when the lights come on and the bullets start to fly, is he PTSD? Is he traumatized? Is he having flashbacks? Right? Is he shell-shocked because he took a lot of punishment and it impacted his judgment in the game?

“And that’s not an excuse. It’s fair and it’s not a lie. You know, when people say, well, you know, Daniel just can’t do this and you blame everything on the offensive line. Well, that’s how it works in the NFL. Quarterback to have time, (they) make good judgments. Quarterbacks get hit a lot, they make bad judgments.”

Banks said several things in that statement that everyone needs to see: PTSD, traumatized, and flashbacks. If you’ve ever been traumatized or had PTSD related to trauma, you know that when the trigger shows up, your body and brain slip into survival mode.

When that happens, a person has limited control over how their body responds. This means that a person could freeze up (a real problem for a QB) or run straight into danger to go through it (likely causing injury).

No one wants to say this can be his excuse but if Jones is having a trauma response because his line previously failed him resulting in hits he shouldn’t have had to take, that is absolutely not his fault. It’s an organizational failure and one that will negatively impact Jones for, potentially, the rest of his career.

Was Jones ‘shellshocked’ as Banks suspects? It’s hard to say. But it would certainly explain some of his reactions last year.

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